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Myrna S. Pearson, 1936- (Wheaton College Professor of Chemistry)

 Person

biographical statement

Myrna S. Pearson was born Myrna Schmidt on July 7, 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is married to Allan E. Pearson, and has two children.

She received an undergraduate degree (A.B.) from the College for Women at the University of Pennsylvania in 1958, her A.M. from Columbia University in 1959, and her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1963.

During her undergraduate career her academic honors included Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Mu Epsilon (Mathematics Honor Society), the Merck Index Award in Chemistry, the Philadelphia Section of the American Chemical Society Award for Scholastic Achievement

While a graduate student at Columbia University, she served as a teaching assistant in general and organic chemistry for one year, then as a laboratory lecturer for organic chemistry at Columbia College as the DuPont Teaching Fellow for two years. She was the first woman to hold that post. While at Columbia she also received the ESSO Fellowship Award, and became a member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.

After receiving her Ph.D. in chemistry in 1963, she accepted a temporary, one-year appointment as Assistant Professor in Chemistry at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she taught courses in organic and physical chemistry. In 1964, she was appointed by Wheaton College as Assistant Professor in Chemistry. She was subsequently appointed Associate Professor of Chemistry in 1970 and Professor of Chemistry in 1982. She noted that “by the time [she] joined the Wheaton faculty, [she] had three years experience teaching all men and one year teaching in a coeducational environment.”

Citation:
Myrna S. Pearson Personnel File, Wheaton College Archives

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Myrna Pearson Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MC-019
Abstract Analytical research, student research data, laboratory notebooks, and research papers; correspondence between Myrna S. Pearson and area researchers and water quality professionals including Dr. Phillip Gidley, the Town of Norton, students, Wheaton College administrators and colleagues; newspaper articles about Norton Reservoir and area water bodies; official reports on Norton Reservoir Dredging Project, Norton Reservoir Regional Management Workshops, and Norton Reservoir Diagnostic Water...
Dates: 1964-1999; Other: 1969 - 1992

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  • Subject: Nonpoint source pollution X